The Occupy rallies of 2011 were the largest Israel has ever seen. As I looked at the young couples in Tel Aviv protesting the inaccessibility of housing they could call their own, I thought of the land tenure reforms of Leviticus.

About Menachem Begin the thing that I remember most was the way he talked. Begin wouldn’t say that he was born on the eve of the First World War; he’d say, as he did when a group of us from the Wall Street Journal interviewed him in 1981, that he was born “into” World War I.

For 13 years in the New York Times Magazine, Randy Cohen’s weekly column, “The Ethicist,” posed and answered ethical questions from readers. I turned to the book for a summation of his ethical sensibility—and found evidence of both his decency and the limits of his secular approach, which in turn highlight a danger society currently faces.

A hundred years ago, industrial efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth, Jr. claimed that children were “cheaper by the dozen.” Recently the economist Bryan Caplan made the modern version of the self-interested argument for producing more offspring. In an exclusive feature from the current issue of the Jewish Review of Books, novelist Dara Horn elegantly begs to differ. —The Editors

Editors' Picks

Lending LimitsGil Student, Torah Musings. By allowing loans to be reformulated as business deals, the Talmud circumvents the Torah’s prohibition on usury. But there are limits to when this legal device should be used.

Beef with the ButcherNic Cavell, Dissent. In 1902, working-class Jewish women in New York rioted to enforce a boycott against price-gouging kosher butchers. A new "street musical" dramatizes their battle.

Israel's Strongest UnionYoav Limor, Israel Hayom. "Simple arithmetic teaches us that contrary to the official announcement on Monday, the defense budget wasn't actually cut by 3 billion shekels. In fact, it was actually increased by 2.5 billion shekels."

Jerusalem TodayDanny Adeno Abebe, Ynet. Jerusalem's economy and religious population are growing, but the exodus of young professionals from the capital continues, according to a new report.

Is Israel the New Saudi Arabia?Karl Vick, Time. High-quality oil shale under exploration south of Jerusalem, coupled with offshore gas reserves already under development, could turn Israel into an energy giant.

Liberating Israel's EconomyDaniel Doron, Weekly Standard. Israel’s alliance between government and big business has long benefited a select few at the expense of the middle class. The current government has a chance to break the monopolies.

Hitting the GasDavid Wurmser, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. In addition to giving Israel energy independence for the first time in its history, Israel's maritime natural gas reserves may make it a major gas exporter to Asia over the coming decades.

The Red and the WhiteBenn Steil, Foreign Affairs. Jewish economist Harry Dexter White, architect of the post-war Western monetary system agreed at Bretton Woods, was suspected of being a Soviet spy. New research shows he was.

Fischer Pays the PriceDror Marmor, Globes. As Netanyahu’s government tried to reduce housing prices, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer moved to prop them up. His recent resignation is no surprise.